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Lu Jinsu served as a Zhi Gao (Official responsible for drafting imperial edicts) and administered Yingzhou. He suddenly fell ill, his body gradually shrinking until, at the deathbed, he was only the size of an infant. This disease did not exist in ancient times, and ultimately no one could identify it.

In the early Zhengde era, a man named Pan Xingsan from Chu was very stout. On the day of his death, he shrank to the size of an infant. People did not know the reason. Later inquiry revealed that he had taken sulfur throughout his life, leading to this result, which made people believe that the story of Lu Jinsu was not false.

Huangfu Ji was born like an ordinary child. His father was the Shaoyin (Vice Governor) of Taiyuan and loved him dearly. By the 13th year of Taihe, when he was fourteen, he suddenly grew rapidly, exceeding seven chi in height within a short time, requiring several belts to hold his waist, eating and drinking heavily, with an appetite three times that of before. The following autumn, he died without illness.

Yu Zhen notes: *Liezi* records that the people of Jiaoyao were five chi tall; *Lunheng* records that during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han, Zhang Zhongchang from Yingchuan was two chi tall; *Bowuzhi* records that during the reign of Duke Huan of Qi, Li Zi'ang was three cun and three fen tall, swimming in the crop of a sea goose, which is the extreme of small stature. *Hetu Yubian* records that the people of Longbo were thirty zhang tall; *Guliang Zhuan* records that Shusun Dechen killed Qiaoru, a member of the Changdi tribe, whose body stretched across nine mu, with his head cut off and carried on a cart, his eyebrows visible above the carriage crossbar; *Yulin* records that during the reign of Emperor Wu of Qi, Meng Ye, the Prefect of Youzhou, was obese and weighed a thousand jin, which is the extreme of large stature. However, strange shapes and appearances are also generated by Heaven and Earth. There are many more such records in *Shanhaijing*, all belonging to remote and desolate regions that cannot be investigated. As for people in China, some gradually shrink, others suddenly grow large; is this not strange? This is actually an omen of their impending death. As for Wei Shu, a general under the Yuan Cha department, who gradually shrank into an infant, held by his mother and wife, and then gradually grew back to his original form, remaining in office under his commander-in-chief, this is a wonder among wonders, unrelated to disease, and thus not recorded.

Wang Shishan treated a woman who, every time her menstruation approached, suffered from abdominal distension and pain, with worms exuding from the vagina in a sticky manner, resembling mouse-burrs, green in color, numbering dozens, followed by the arrival of menstrual blood. Her husband asked for the cause. Wang said, "The Wind-Wood of Jueyin generates worms. The Blood Sea of women belongs to Jueyin; this must be due to excessive Wind-Wood combined with Damp-Heat in the Spleen and Stomach." Just as various worms are born during the transition between spring and summer when Wood is prosperous and Damp-Heat prevails, so too here. It is appropriate to clear Damp-Heat from Jueyin. He ordered decocting Coptidis Rhizoma (Huanglian, 黄连) in wine as the sovereign herb, with Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (Baizhu, 白术) and Cyperi Rhizoma (Xiangfu, 香附) as minister herbs, grinding them into powder and forming pills with rice gruel, to be swallowed on an empty stomach. After more than a month, menstruation arrived, no worms appeared, and she became pregnant.

[Appendix] Jin Juror from Xishan, Xiuning, suffered severe lower abdominal pain, unresponsive to hundreds of medicines. A physician moxaed the Guanyuan acupoint (CV4, Gate of Energy) over ten times. The next day, itching occurred in the urethra, and upon inspection, worms emerged, which were pulled out by hand. The worms were five or six cun long, and seven worms were discharged over consecutive days, after which the pain ceased. Initially terrified, they subsequently disappeared. This was because the person indulged in alcohol and sexual activity, causing Damp-Heat in the Bladder. When stagnant blood and turbid matter remained, they transformed into worms through steaming. Attacked by moxa fire, the worms could not remain and thus exited through the urinary meatus. From this, we know that tuberculosis worms and tapeworms are generated by internal Damp-Heat steaming and stagnation, not by external invasion.

Furthermore, Wu Jiaoshan treated a postpartum woman with obstructed lochia, a mass in the lower abdomen with pain, and chills and fever resembling malaria. Using Polycrystalline Amber Plaster (Hupo Gao, Amber Ointment), the mass dissipated, and worms emerged from the vaginal orifice. This is also attributed to Damp-Heat in the urinary bladder generating worms.

Zhang Jingyue said: One person suffered severe heart and abdominal pain, intermittent and unbearable. All attempts using drugs to remove accumulation and promote Qi circulation failed. Only when punched with a fist during extreme pain did the pain subside slightly, the reason unknown. Suddenly, a Hu monk saw this and said, "I can cure it." He instructed the patient to first eat bait, then take one pill, after which a hard-mouthed strange worm was expelled, and the patient recovered. This was because the worms bit the intestines and viscera, causing extreme pain. Punching vibrates the five viscera, frightening the worms into hiding; without punching, the worms move freely, causing recurrence. This is also a miraculous method for verifying worms.

Yu Zhen notes: Ancient discussions on worm diseases all attribute them to Damp-Heat. However, in Zhang Jingyue's treatment of a child from the Hu family suffering from vomiting, diarrhea, and expelling roundworms, where thousands of roundworms were expelled daily despite the use of Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen, 人参) and Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata (Fuzi, 附子), with roundworms still continuously generated, and ultimate success achieved through warming and tonifying, the term "Damp-Heat" is insufficient to explain it. As for vermifuge drugs, such as Cai Kangji suffering from tapeworms, the doctor instructed him to chew a piece of roasted pork on an empty, hungry stomach without swallowing, to attract the worm's head upward. When he felt as if ten thousand arrows were piercing his chest, he took medicine, which entered the worm's mouth. The medicine consisted of fine powder of Arecae Semen (Binglang, 槟榔) mixed with a decoction of the east-facing root of Pomegranate Pericarpium (Shiliupi, 石榴皮). The general principle of expelling worms is no more than this. However, some say the worm's head points upward only in the first three days of the lunar month, while Xu Shumi says lung worms ascend only on the fourth and sixth days. Thus, the theory that worms point upward in the first decade, sideways in the second, and downward in the third decade should not be rigidly adhered to. As for the echo-responsive worm in the throat fearing Indigo Naturalis (Lanlan, 靛蓝) juice, and the echo-responsive worm in the abdomen fearing Wolframia Seed (Leiwan, 雷丸), these are recorded in books but unseen by the world. Moreover, blood flying like butterflies from moxibustion wounds, worms moving under the skin making sounds like crying infants, lice emerging from the whole body before sleep, and maggots crawling on the scalp—these compare to the bizarre tales in *Qixie*. Who can encounter the miraculous prescriptions of Xia Shi?

A person drank excessively at a relative's house and was sent to rest in a flower pavilion. In the middle of the night, thirsty for water but unable to find any, he sucked about a bowl of water from a stone trough. At dawn, he saw that the trough was full of small red worms. Startled, his depression persisted, feeling as if maggots were in his heart, and his epigastrium felt blocked. Day by day, suspicion grew, gradually forming Wei Ge syndrome (dysphagia with wasting), unresponsive to numerous doctors. Wu Qiu examined him, knowing the disease arose from doubt. He used red-dyed threads, cut into pieces resembling maggots, and prepared pills with two grains of Crotonis Fructus (Badou, 巴豆) pounded with rice. He instructed the patient to take ten or more Red Thread Pills in a dark room. Water was placed in an old basin; shortly after, the patient desired defecation. He sat on the basin, excreting the previous contents, which swirled like maggots. Then, the window was opened for relatives to witness, and the illness was resolved. After half a month of regulation, he recovered.

Yu Zhen notes: Master Wu's method was ingenious. However, adding vermifuge drugs to the same pills would also have been acceptable.

Wang Shishan treated a person who was tall and thin, pale and fragile, in his thirties, suffering from a strange disease. His entire body felt as if insects were crawling beneath the skin, starting from the left leg, ascending to the head, then descending to the right leg, with the sensation of hearing insects moving. Physicians summoned could not identify the disease. Wang palpated the pulse, finding it floating, small, and soggy, deficient upon pressure. Observing his form and complexion, he determined it was a deficiency syndrome. *Shanghan Lun* states, "Body feels like insects crawling, caused by excessive sweating leading to Yang collapse." Following this example, Wang used Buzhong Yiqi Tang (Tonify the Middle and Augment the Qi Decoction), adding extra Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen, 人参) and Astragali Radix (Huangqi, 黄芪), assisted by five fen of Phellodendri Cortex (Huangbai, 黄柏) stir-fried in wine. After thirty doses, he recovered.

[Appendix] One person had a sensation of waves beneath the skin all over the body, unbearable itching, bleeding upon scratching, known as Qi Ben (Qi Rushing). Treating with one liang each of Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen, 人参), Scutellariae Radix (Kuzhi, 苦杖 - likely a variant or local name for Scutellaria or similar bitter cold herb), Natrii Chloridum (Qingyan, 青盐), and Asari Radix et Rhizoma (Xixin, 细辛), decocted in water, resulted in recovery.